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Ocussi Ambeno District (East Timor)

Last modified: 2005-08-19 by antonio martins
Keywords: ocussi ambeno | coat of arms | oé-cussi | micronation | quatair / ocussi ambeno | madagascar | imaginary | hoax |
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The status of Ocussi Ambeno

Oecusi-Ambeno is part of East Timor and will be a part of independent Timor Lorosae. There’s no question about that.
Jorge Candeias, 25 Feb 2000

Ocussi Ambeno seems to be a de-facto Indonesian territory, unrecognized internationally but so far uncontested legally by Portugal. It was a Portugese enclave in the old NEI with a border undefined until 1914, and the source of several military clashes between the two colonial powers. Portugal neglected to re-occupy the territory after WW2 — perhaps unwilling to take the risk of being caught in the conflicts between Holland and the Indonesian nationalists — and the territory drifted into diplomatic oblivion.
Stephen Collier, 07 Oct 1999

This is false. Soon after WWII Indonesia got independent and East Timor was subject to an agreement between Indonesia and Portugal, by which Indonesia recognized the sovereignty of Portugal over the territory and guaranteed that it didn't have any territorial ambitions over any part of the territory. The territory was defined as the portuguese possessions of before the war: the eastern part of the island of Timor, the island of Atauro to the north, the small island of Jaco off the eastern tip of Timor and the enclave of Ocussi Ambeno in the eastern half of Timor. Even after the invasion, Indonesia maintained these territories together and separated from the rest of the country as the province of Timor Timur. The legal status of the territory is, therefore, perfectly clear: it's a part of East Timor, and has been so since before WWII.
Jorge Candeias, 08 Oct 1999

The enclave is part of East Timor and will join the newly independent country. The territorial make up of East Timor was never a debate issue, rather only it's status (either indonesian province or occupied portuguese territory under a decolonization and independence process). Indonesian occupation officials (unlike others in similar ciconstances) did not change the borderlines fixed in 1912 between Portugal and the Netherlands, and UN-sponsored independence referendum was held in the territory. I find very hard to believe that «Portugal neglected to re-occupy the territory after WW2». Granted that the 1926-1974 portuguese dictatorship contrasted it's propaganda imperial tone at home with a rather meek foreign policy regarding it's colonies (at least until 1961), allowing almost without complaint the occupation of São Jorge da Mina (Benin